[Community management needs a community that cares--the attitude of the population to psychiatric management and psychiatric patients].

Since community mental health care started public attitudes towards mentally ill and mental health care had been development to an important influencing factor in planning mental health care and in rehabilitation of patients. This paper describes the historical development of research in public attitudes in psychiatry, which started with deinstitutionalization. It discusses the interaction between types and quality of mental health care and public opinions or attitudes towards the care of mentally ill patients, considering own empirical results.